Oppo's CyanogenMod Phone Gets Blessed To Run Google Apps

sfcrazy writes "Google has blessed Oppo N1 by passing it in their compatibility test suite. What it means is that this will be the first phone outside Google's Open Hardware Alliance (OHA) to run Google services and apps legitimately. The phone will be available on December 24th."

Comments

Phew

[recoiledsnake]

Thought it was going to get banned like Aliyun because of the stories below.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/14/3335204/google-statement-acer-smartphone-launch-aliyun-android

http://www.theverge.com/2011/05/12/google-android-skyhook-lawsuit-motorola-samsung/

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/10/googles-iron-grip-on-android-controlling-open-source-by-any-means-necessary/3/

Anyone know if Jolla phones are banned from being made by the Android OEMs because they're using a third party jvm for compatibility?

Re:Phew

[tlhIngan]

Thought it was going to get banned like Aliyun because of the stories below.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/14/3335204/google-statement-acer-smartphone-launch-aliyun-android

http://www.theverge.com/2011/05/12/google-android-skyhook-lawsuit-motorola-samsung/

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/10/googles-iron-grip-on-android-controlling-open-source-by-any-means-necessary/3/

Anyone know if Jolla phones are banned from being made by the Android OEMs because they're using a third party jvm for compatibility?

Yes, the terms of the OHA prohibit OEMs that ship Android phones from making "Android compatible" phones.

But Oppo is shipping an Android phone, so it's not an issue. If Oppo were to ship an Aliyun phone or a Jolla phone, they too will get a phone call reminding them of their legal commitment to not make a phone that does not run Android but can run Android apps. (So you can make a phone running your own OS, as long as it does NOT run Android apps).

Yes, it's CyanogenMod, but it's still Android in the end. That's perfectly allowed. In fact, Cyanogen is the only one allowed to distribute Gapps outside of Google.

Though, this makes the Blackberry announcement interesting - since Foxconn makes a lot of Android phones for others - are they going to be harassed for making Blackberry phones since those can run Android apps that are not Android?

Re: Phew

[Anonymous Coward]

What the hell are you talking about?

CM was explicitly ordered to remove the Gapps. They are not allowed to distribute them.

OHA has nothing to do with the ability to run Android apps. Nothing.

Re: Phew

[Miamicanes]

Well... in the case of Cyanogenmod, it's more like, "Google kind of turns a blind eye to end users installing them, because it knows that 99.9% of the people downloading them are installing them on phones that shipped with GApps to begin with." It's kind of like how if you ask a Microsoft Licensing Specialist about using an OEM copy of Windows to install a virgin copy of the same version of Windows on a computer that shipped with a crapware-laden copy from the manufacturer, they'll tell you it's officially forbidden... but if you get your hands on an install disc somehow, call Microsoft to phone activate it, and give them the number printed on the COA on the bottom of the computer, they'll activate it anyway.

Google doesn't give a shit if someone with a Samsung phone installs GApps after reflashing it to Cyanogen. They care ENORMOUSLY if a carrier somewhere in the world sells phones from Shenzhen with unlicensed copies of GApps. As long as the barrier to doing it is high enough to require a fair amount of technical skill to install GApps on never-licensed hardware (as opposed to originally-licensed hardware that was just reflashed), they don't really care. And more importantly, they know that if they tried TOO hard to stop people with the skills to reflash from doing it, it would cost them several orders of magnitude more sales and lost goodwill, because we're the ones that two dozen people ask for advice when it's time to buy a new phone.

If you don't believe me, find a friend or family member who owned a Motorola Android phone that got its bootloader permalocked (Photon, Electrify, Atrix2, others) and ask them what they think about Motorola's current phone.... Make sure you're wearing asbestos clothing, because you'll need it...

Re:Phew

[Anonymous Coward]

jolla runs sailfish OS. It uses libhybris to run Android apps, so Google has no say in that. The play store and be installed, so one assumes they made everything "compliant".

Re:Phew

[recoiledsnake]

Read the links I posted. Google has no say in what Jolla does, but it potentially stop certifying or revoke access to OHA to any OEM that ships Jolla phones.

Re: Phew

[__aaltlg1547]

But that's about license-to-distribute. Google denied them the right to distribute Google apps because they're proprietary applications, while the rest of Cyanogenmod is Android Open Source (or possibly a few apps might be CyanogenMod-proprietary).

Google separately provides a way for users to download a zip containing Google Apps, not as a nice thing for CyanogenMod users, but because they want you to run Google apps on your phone so they don't want to put high barriers to getting the official, latest Google apps on there.

Maybe some day Google will see some advantage to only allowing Google Apps to be distributed by manufacturers or only by carriers or something like that, but that day is not yet.

Good to See

[madwheel]

I'm glad they're supporting them. I just hope this phone doesn't come with a barrage of preinstalled apps that I don't need or want. If the phone is clean and basically a Nexus-like device with some cool Cyanogen mods, I'm all for it. I want better hardware at lower prices (who doesn't), but I also want a good experience on the phone. We'll see what this does to the future phone market.

Root?

[ksemlerK]

Does it come pre-rooted?

Re:Root?

[BobSwi]

No, it'll probably be easy to do but it seems that root was not allowed: http://www.androidcentral.com/oppo-n1-cyanogenmod-edition-passes-google-cts-launching-dec-24 Writing on the CM-dev list, community lead Abhisek Devkota (better known as ciwrl) described it as "a major milestone for everyone in this project," adding "aside from root access, we were not forced to make any compromises in terms of features or functionality."

Re:Root?

[Pinky's Brain]

I wonder if the N1 can install unsigned ROMs ... if only signed ROMs can be installed on the N1 (ignoring exploits) then the leaders of Cyanogenmod are pretty much tiviozing the project (at some point a phone would come around with no available exploit).

Re:Root?

[Pinky's Brain]

Nevermind, the Oppo N1 does have an unlocked bootloader out of the box.

Re:Root?

[PopeRatzo]

I'm trying to find a reference for "tiviozing". Can you explain?

I was following the conversation up to then.

Re:Root?

[drinkypoo]

I'm trying to find a reference for "tiviozing". Can you explain?

I was following the conversation up to then.

I plugged 'tivoizing' into wikipedia and the top result was Tivoization. Now you, too, know how to use the internets. HTH, HAND.

Re:Root?

[dwater]

> tiviozing

Let me correct that for you :

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=tiviozing&title=Special%3ASearch

"Did you mean: "Timing"?"

Now you, too, know how to read more carefully and see how someone might make that mistake.

Even google doesn't attempt to correct that typo (when I try it, anyway) and the only 'result' is a link to the above post.

cyanogenmod scam

[tero]

Too bad cyanogen went from great open source community effort to a cold moneygrab by couple of greedy guys. Wouldn't touch it with a pole now.

https://plus.google.com/+GuillaumeLesniak/posts/L8FJkrcahPs

Re:cyanogenmod scam

[ksemlerK]

OmniROM to the rescue!

Re:cyanogenmod scam

[gman003]

I just have one thing to say - I'll get back to reading that once I finish this rant:

I'm reading this on a maximised window on a 2560x1440 display. Why the flying fuck is all the content packed into a 500px box? Fully 2/3rds the width of my screen is completely and utterly unused. Even on my secondary 1600x900 monitor, it's wasting half the screen on a grey background.

Seriously, it's nearly 2014, we have electric cars and robots on Mars. And yet Google, pretty much the biggest web corp on the planet, with plenty of talented designers and programmers and everything else, decided their social networking site needs to present posts in a way that works on XGA screens? Not even XGA - that post would fit on straight-up VGA resolution from the late 80s.

Re:cyanogenmod scam

[wbr1]

WTF, are you reading this in Google+?

Re:cyanogenmod scam

[Antonovich]

Solved. If it bothers you so much, don't read it on your 2560x1440 display, read it on a tablet or cellphone. Sheesh, how 'bout some lateral thinkin' there!

Re:cyanogenmod scam

[game kid]

Copied from the linked page, due to the various complaints about viewing area etc. and because even viewing Google+ gives their creepy management strange ideas and is generally a Bad Thing. Of course, this meant that I had to view the page. Links generally not preserved (they were almost all to +Real Names anyway). Slashdot has a nicer viewing area for this sort of thing (but the Beta will probably "fix" that, don't worry).

Guillaume Lesniak
Shared publicly - Sep 20, 2013

I remained silent about the whole Focal relicensing troubles for now. There was a lot of drama between the app being GPL, and the fact Cyanogen Inc wanted to use it, which drove some frustration between me, some CM contributors, and CM leaders. As a result, to avoid any problem, Focal has been removed from CyanogenMod. I think you deserve explanations and “behind the scenes” view on how all of this happened, and to know it’s not just a last-minute decision or ragequit.

This is the true, fully-featured story of the “Focal drama”. It's not a rant about how Cyanogen Inc is bad or anything (and it can be a good thing, with a few conditions, see at the end of the post), but just an insight on how this all happened, and how some people were and are feeling.

A few months ago, I decided to work on an app to replace AOSP’s Camera app after +Steve Kondik expressed concerns about the camera experience on CyanogenMod in a G+ post. I decided to take the challenge, and build up a camera app that would be up with users’ expectations: accessible and innovative UI, but fully-featured.
You all know how that worked out - the app has been out for some time now. I’ve been keeping the “internal” CM team (read: the CyanogenMod Dev private G+ group) tuned with my progress, releasing them mockups, screenshots and videos of the progress. Luckily, nobody ever leaked what it was, even with the big storm we started with the Nemesis trailer.

A few days before we started organizing Focal’s launch, I was approached by +Koushik Dutta and +Steve Kondik . They wanted to talk to me about CyanogenMod’s future developments, that sounded cool. Koush told me in a video chat Cyanogen’s plans since he left Samsung: they found investors, and they’re ready to push forward Cyanogen Inc, a company selling services for CyanogenMod. At first, that sounded amazing, getting a few bucks for working on something I’ve been doing for free for some time. That would allow the student I am to get some stuff and get a kickstart for my future life. That would have given me the chance to spend more time on CM, as I wouldn't need to work elsewhere. Now, I didn’t have much information about what were Cyanogen Inc plans to make money, but I expected it to be through some kind of services - koush told me about CMID, which later became CMAccount, or other premium things like a one-click installer, or even a CMPhone. That sounded like a nice addition to CyanogenMod, leaving the community intact, and adding more value to the software distribution.
I had a similar chat with Steve, where he explained me some of the other aspects of Cyanogen Inc, his philosophy about it, etc. Okay, that sounds like a good plan, get me involved and enhance the open distribution I know and love. I have a few emails back and forth between Steve, Koush and me, talking about what I could work on, what I could enhance on Focal, etc. They’re telling me they’re looking into contracts, and I wait.

That’s when the “drama” started.

I got a Hangouts chat from Koush, saying that Focal would need to be relicensed because GPL isn’t ideal -- wait what, not ideal for an Open Source project?

“The issue is that we need to be able to relicense it”
“It’ll be open as GPL, but CM can do what they want with it.”

Yes, Cyanogen Inc. will need to do changes in CyanogenMod’s source code - because here’s another

Re:cyanogenmod scam

[Anonymous Coward]

I would never buy another Oppo device as they refuse to implement a partition structure that allows for device encryption.

Re: cyanogenmod scam

[Anonymous Coward]

To me it looks like a VC trap..

Re:cyanogenmod scam

[Jmc23]

I guess stuff like that still exists today because people are so dumb that they think complaining about something like that on a totally unrelated site is going to have any effect.

Stop being stupid, if you don't like it then complain to the website designer!!

Re:cyanogenmod scam

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you sure he's not talking about the Slashdot beta, which I am sometimes redirected to. It's much worse than Google+.

Re:cyanogenmod scam

[foobar bazbot]

The OP, tero, posted a link to a Google+ post. Then GP gman003 posted a rant about Google+'s screen layout. Then you ask

WTF, are you reading this in Google+?

Well, yeah, he was reading that Google+ post in Google+; where else would one read a Google+ post?

We have a threaded discussion system to make stuff like this clear. Perhaps you should try using it...

One Major Problem

[Anonymous Coward]

This means the phone will run Google's apps and services... Who would want that?

Re:One Major Problem

[HouseOfMisterE]

This means the phone will run Google's apps and services... Who would want that?

Oppo, apparently.

Re:One Major Problem

[Anonymous Coward]

Who? Almost everyone who buys an android phone.

That phone looks nifty in some ways

[idioto]

Never heard of it, and the article doesn't mention much about it, but upon researching it's got some cool gizmos. The one that stuck out to me was that you could control it from the backside. And you all know that's what we want with any device.

How to hack an android mobile phone

[Anonymous Coward]

How to hack a mobile phone

I don't want Google

[Anonymous Coward]

Can Oppo do a non Google version? Because I don't want to be forced to sign up a Google account and have it track me. I've ditch Gmail already thanks to the NSA and don't see why watching a cat video on YouTube should mean I have to give up privacy.

Re:I don't want Google

[ChunderDownunder]

Cyanogenmod doesn't depend on Google services - it's based on the open source AOSP code.

This phone is blessed by Google to access the Play store and associated services. As with any Android(TM) phone, it'll come preloaded with Google Apps on the shipped firmware but presumably you're under no obligation to use them.

I assume too that one can wipe the phone with a 'clean' CM 1x image that doesn't include Google taint at all...

Re:I don't want Google

[Anonymous Coward]

How do apps on Cyanogenmod receive notifications? You don't want every app polling because that will kill the battery. The usual solution on Android is Google Cloud Messaging. If you want (quite reasonably) to avoid Google, what do you do?

Thank you for your work.

[emil]

I'm a user of CM10.1, and I appreciate your efforts and participation. I wish you could have found a more satisfying solution. I will look forward to Focal's availability.

It seems hard to commercialize a GPL codebase. Even RedHat had to abandon their community distribution to keep their developers paid, which upset a lot of people (including me).

Perhaps you can try again in another project. I hope you can make it work if you do.

Re:Thank you for your work.

[game kid]

For the record, I am not Mr. Lesniak, just someone who copied his comment from his G+ page. :)

I do agree a thank you is in order for his work, and I think for bringing the story to light too.

Re:Thank you for your work.

[emil]

Well, thanks for copying, even if I do feel a few neurons short for not realizing the repost.

It worked!

[egoebelbecker]

Kosh has been working so hard to improve that relationship with Google. Good work!

Try unmaximizing your browser window

[tepples]

Why the flying fuck is all the content packed into a 500px box?

To minimize line transition errors (skipping or rereading a line), it's best to make body text columns no wider than about 80 characters. In CSS, that's about 30em to 40em, and with the default 16px font, 500px is about 31em.

Fully 2/3rds the width of my screen is completely and utterly unused. Even on my secondary 1600x900 monitor, it's wasting half the screen on a grey background.

Try unmaximizing your browser window and resizing it to half the width of your screen. There's a reason that Windows is plural (except for Window 8). If you let us know what desktop operating system you're using (and, in the case of X11/Linux, what window manager), I can give detailed instructions.

Re:Try unmaximizing your browser window

[gman003]

The purpose of a windowed computing environment is that you can assign any (rectangular) amount of space to a program, in proportion to how much it is being used.

When I wrote that, all I had open was Firefox (two tabs - /. and the G+ post) and Steam (doing some downloads in my other monitor). I gave Firefox 100% of the screen because nothing else needed it.

A website should use as much space as it is given. If I give it only a small area, it should only use that, but if I give it more space, it should actually utilize it instead of making me scroll through several screens of text when all that content could have fit into one.

Re:Try unmaximizing your browser window

[cyber-vandal]

My FF window isn't maximised but that page still wastes loads of space unnecessarily.

If it's not on Amazon or the publisher's site

[tepples]

This means the phone will run Google's apps and services... Who would want that?

Anybody who wants to run an Android application whose publisher has chosen not to make it available through Amazon or as an APK on the publisher's own web site.

Put what else in that space?

[tepples]

A website should use as much space as it is given.

A column of text can't get bigger than a specific width without becoming hard to read. What should the web site put in the rest of the space? A pile of ad banners? It's like maximizing a file browser window showing a folder with three files in it. What should be shown in the rest of the window?

But 479 euros?!

[BestNicksRTaken]

Given that the Oppo N1 works out around 75e more than a Nexus5, is there any point buying the N1?